Saving Dona

The boy led us inside. A girl was lying on the bed; she looked weak and must have been sick.

When the girl saw Sivir, she tried to get up, but Sivir quickly stopped her. "You're not well yet, Dona, don't move around."

"It's alright, Sivir, I'm much better now, cough cough cough..."

"Look at how badly you're coughing, lie down right now. Did you give your sister her medicine, Xiao Fei?"

"Not yet, it's just been heated, it'll be ready in a bit."

The boy's name is Xiao Fei, and the girl's name is Dona. They both call Sivir "older sister," and their close relationship is very much like the "family" described in the database.

Are they your younger siblings?

"More or less, they're children I picked up."

Sivir didn't elaborate, perhaps because she was afraid of bringing up the children's painful memories.

Soon after, Xiao Fei finished brewing the medicine and also made us a lot of food. When he saw that I didn't help, he thought the food wasn't good.

"Why aren't you eating, big brother? Do you think my cooking isn't good?"

"No, I... I just ate before I came."

I just made up a reason, otherwise it would be too complicated to explain, and he wouldn't understand anyway.

After eating a few bites of food, Sivir started feeding Dona medicine, but she vomited it up as soon as she swallowed it, looking quite ill.

Children this young already have weak immune systems; if they can't take their medicine, it will only make things worse.

I used the body examination capabilities on my armor to analyze Dona, which showed that she had contracted a rare and strange illness, as if she had been affected by some kind of Dark Magic.

Without effective treatment, she has less than a year to live!

Sivir was shocked to hear the results of my examination. She knew many people, but few of them were skilled in treating illnesses. In other words Shurima didn't have many good doctors to begin with.

Xiao Fei was heartbroken and shed tears. He said his sister was only seven years old and her biggest wish was to get better and go back to school, but he never expected her to be so seriously ill.

Magic...

Speaking of this, I suddenly thought of Nasus from the Sun Disc ruins. He was Ascended and proficient in all kinds of magic; perhaps he could cure this strange disease!

At the same time, I also recalled the incident of Sivir opening the gates of the Imperial Tomb. If she is truly of royal blood, then she should have some connection with the Ascended.

In short, going to Nasus now is a good choice. "I know someone who might be able to cure Dona's illness!"

"Who?" Sivir perked up.

Do you know the people who live beneath those ruins in the city?

"You mean the remains of the Sun Disc?"

"Right."

"Are there really people down there? I've heard Sett mention it before, but I've never really believed it."

"Yes, I've seen it too. There's a library down there, and an Ascended Nasus lives there."

Sivir found my words incredible. The Ascended were just a legend to the Shurima, and even my database said that the Ascended were extinct. No wonder she refused to believe it.

However, seeing is believing, and I have indeed seen Nasus; there is no mistake about that.

With no other way to treat Dona, Sivir decided to give it a try!

Because the heat near the ruins is extremely intense, I can only carry a maximum of two people for Spatial Transfer, so Xiao Fei stayed behind.

Soon, we arrived at the passageway of the ruins, and Sivir found that it was very similar to the Imperial Tomb. However, since both were places where Ascended had lived, these similarities were not surprising.

Arriving near the library entrance again, the atmosphere was still oppressive, and Dona's frail body was barely holding on.

"I feel so awful, Sivir. Where am I?"

"Hang in there a little longer, Dona! We'll find someone who can cure you soon!"

Before I could even knock, Nasus sensed me. "Why are you here again? I don't like being disturbed. Get out of here, or you'll be staying forever!"

"I've brought someone you might know with me. Please let us in."

"The people I know have long since perished in the sands; it's impossible for them to still be alive."

"This person is Royal Descendant of the Shurima Empire!"

"Damn it, don't just spout nonsense!"

Nasus didn't believe me and unleashed a violent magical attack. I didn't have time to explain to him and simply teleported inside with Sivir and Dona.

After landing, he stood before us, wielding the Soul-Reaver Axe, looking like an evil god. His terrifying face startled Sivir.

"Oh my god, what is this?!"

Nasus, far from being angry upon hearing this, stopped his attack. His withered body trembled slightly, as if he had encountered someone extraordinary.

"Martial Empress Your Majesty?"

"What are you saying? My name is Sivir. I've heard you're Ascended. Could you please save this child?"

Nasus stood silently, seemingly oblivious to Sivir's words, but he stopped trembling and, after a moment, lightly sliced Sivir's arm with the blade of his axe, so quickly that she couldn't react.

When her blood splattered onto the Soul-Reaver Axe, the ancient weapon shone with a blinding light, as if staring directly at the sun!

Sivir quickly protected Dona, at which point Nasus knelt down and swore an oath of loyalty:

"For the ever-growing strength and perpetual prosperity of Shurima, and for the Ascended Empress Zetian, I, Nasus, today dedicate myself to the service of the Sun God, to becoming a child of the gods. War is noble, and I am honored!"

"So what are you talking about? Can you help me save this child? If not, don't waste my time!"

"Let me see!"

Nasus then stood up, performed a simple examination on Dona, and easily cured her!

He truly is a learned man; he accomplished with a wave of his hand what we struggled to do.

Dona, who had just been unconscious, burst into tears upon seeing Nasus. Sivir had to comfort her for a while to calm her down.

Upon learning that this terrifying man had saved her, Dona slowly overcame her fear and finally dared to look him in the eye.

Nasus didn't care about a child's opinion or feelings; his attention was entirely on Sivir.

But she knew nothing when asked, so Nasus had no choice but to ask me:

"Ezreal, what on earth is going on?"

"I don't know how to explain it either, but we've been to Imperial Tomb, and I'm just speculating based on information in the database..."

Hearing how we met, Nasus marveled at the wonder of fate, but he became quite agitated upon learning that the Khopesh in the tomb had been stolen.

"That is Martial Empress Your Majesty's Khopesh; it must not fall into the hands of evil people!"

"That person should be dead. Should we go check on him again?"